Sierra Health + Wellness Supports UC Davis Give Day 2021

New Start Recovery Solutions Supporting Substance Abuse Research Program at UC Davis Center for Neuroscience 2021

New Start Recovery Solutions has a long standing and continuing interest in the neurobiology of addiction.

New Start Recovery Solutions is owned and operated by Sierra Health and Wellness Centers

Research into better treatments for addiction is important. And understanding how addiction affects the brain is critical to finding the most effective treatments.

UC Davis Center for Neuroscience

Importance of Addiction Research

Substance Use Disorder SUD (addiction) is the fastest-growing health and well-being threat in western society.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year; including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.
• Every day in the US more than 125 people die of an opioid overdose.
• An estimated 15 million people struggle with an alcohol use disorder in the United States, but less than 10% of them receive treatment.

Despite these alarming statistics, not a single pharmaceutical company is pursuing therapeutics to intervene in SUDs. Currently, the only therapeutics designed to treat addiction either:

1. Block the rewarding effects of drugs and show poor compliance (e.g., naltrexone for alcoholism) or,
2. Use a less “dangerous” drug as a substitute (e.g. methadone/buprenorphine for opioid abuse).

The Substance Abuse Research Program at the Center for Neuroscience UC Davis supports a new approach to team science and research in substance use disorders.

Dr. Jennifer Whistler: On the Search for Safer Opioids

https://neuroscience.ucdavis.edu/news/jennifer-whistler-search-safer-opioids

Our research emphasizes the relevance of memory, decision making, brain development and co-morbid neurological disorders to addiction. We seek to translate our findings into a new therapeutic development pipeline to treat SUDs.

Led by Professor and Associate Director Jennifer Whistler, the Substance Abuse Research Program is using neuroscience to identify circuits that have been “rewired” in the addicted brain. And works to understand the structural and activity changes associated with the disease. The Substance Abuse Research Program aims to make substantial discoveries to inform new treatments and therapies to improve individual and public health.

Working with Center for Neuroscience director Kim McAllister, Dr. Whistler hopes to create a shared vision for the center’s faculty and researchers who come from disciplines across the field of brain science.

“People here are studying many things that might be relevant to addiction, like decision-making and early brain development,” Whistler said. “My goal is to connect the dots and build a program in addiction biology that spans many disciplines and brings new talent into this field.”

• Each patient is evaluated by New Start Recovery Solutions or Recovery Happens Counseling Services staff and receives a biopsychosocial assessment; and an individualized treatment plan.

• We use Mindfulness for Relapse Prevention and other whole person evidence-based therapies; including CBT, DBT, Brainspotting, yoga and more.

• If you or your loved one is located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Bay Area, San Rafael, Monterey, Sacramento, Fair Oaks, Redding, Martinez or Reno – and are dealing with a drug abuse or an alcohol use disorder – welcome to evidence-based whole person addiction treatment at New Start Recovery Solutions and Recovery Happens Counseling Services.

• New Start Recovery Solutions and Recovery Happens Counseling Services are VA Community Care Providers; in-network with TriWest.

• Our trauma-informed dual diagnosis treatment is effective for PTSD, depression, anxiety and more.

• Veteran PTSD Treatment Programs – Residential and Outpatient.

• Treatment Programs for First Responders, Union Members and Professionals.

Please call 866-303-6275 for more information, or feel welcome to Contact Us.